How In-Store Audits Can Improve Retail Performance

No matter the type of store you’re running, it is important that you keep up-to-date with everything that’s going on with both the internal operations and your intended target audience. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through an in-store audit, a market research technique used to collect important data from a retail setting on a regular basis. This will then help improve your store’s performance in a number of different ways, some of the most important of which are listed below.

Improve Product Management

First and foremost, these kinds of audits will help you handle all of your stock concerns with ease. A thorough report will include all kinds of helpful information such as:

Monthly sales volume. This will help you spot how much of each product you’re selling so that you know which items are popular and which are not. With this information, you can then streamline your product range, removing anything that the public obviously doesn’t want.

Current stock levels. These retail audits will also help you keep track of what you’ve got in your back rooms, helping you spot when a certain product is running low so you can then order some more. This is important so that you then keep a well-stocked store that features everything the public needs.

As you can see, product management will be a breeze once you’ve completed a full audit of your store. The extra effort and cost involved will thus be well worth it in the end.

Spot New Industry Trends

Speaking of the products you’re selling, you also need to be able to see when one item goes out of fashion and another replaces it. Since you’re in retail, this will happen fairly often, forcing you to remain on top of industry trends. Contacting a firm such as fr.marketforce.com will certainly help with this thanks to their in-depth retail audits. If you conduct these on a regular basis, you’ll be able to see how your stock sales shift and change over time.

This will then help you organise your store in a better manner. For example, you’ll be able to see if a particular item experiences a heavier demand if it sells out faster. Then, you can make a larger order for that product in the future. You’ll also spot which items are going out of fashion. These you can put on sale to clear them out of your shop and make room for a more popular product.

Enhance Your Store Setting

By taking the time to analyse your retail outlet, you’ll also be able to rearrange the shop itself in a more optimal manner. The best audits will inform you about a range of customer intelligence aspects essential for your store’s survival. For instance, you’ll be able to see if you’re using your store space in the optimal manner and if there are any areas which don’t get frequented by customers as much as others. You’ll also be able to see whether the displays you’ve set up are actually working to generate sales or if they’re just wasted space.

This will then help you gain additional promotional power that you didn’t have before. After all, an audit will point out which in-store marketing methods are working and which aren’t, giving you more control over how you tweak the store design to best suit your needs. As you can see, a retail audit will highlight a range of factors all beneficial to your business. These allow you to improve the layout of your store, making it easier for your customers to find exactly what they desire while there.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About Guest BloggerLaura Winter is a freelance author from Market Force, a company that provides price checking and mystery shopping services in France and other European countries. Text analysis and cinema monitoring solutions are also provided.